SF says Commission candidate should step down

Comments from the incoming European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, Rocco Buttiglione, that homosexuality is a sin and marriage is so women can have children, caused uproar on Monday when the EU Parliament rejected him as a candidate for the job.

Before the Parliament took its decision, Sinn Féin Dublin MEP Mary Lou McDonald had already called upon Buttiglione to voluntarily step down from his designate post.

"Mr Buttiglione's recent remarks are both outrageous and offensive," McDonald said early on Monday. "The very fact that he is an incoming European Commissioner with the portfolio of Justice, Freedom and Security will make citizens very uneasy. People will not have confidence in a EU Justice Minister who believes in injustice."

McDonald said she had been tracking the comments made by Buttiglione over the past number of months and noticed that at every available opportunity he had seemed intent on making inflammatory statements.

The prospective commissioner made his latest remarks during his 'confirmation hearing' — a ritual all commissioners face before being endorsed in a full European Parliament vote.

Buttiglione's admitted during questioning that he thought homosexuality was a "sin" and that the primary role of women was "to have children and be protected by their husbands".

The move by the parliament has caused shockwaves in European circles, as it is the first time it has rejected a designated commissioner. Previously, candidates were merely rubber-stamped, but most MEPs were resolute that they would not support Buttiglione.

They are now saying that incoming EU President Jóse Manuel Barrosa had better take their decision seriously.